282 IRISH TOBACCO 



are getting ripe the whole plant is cut down and left 

 to wilt for a time. The grower has now to begin the 

 curing, and Sir Nugent Everard showed us the 

 elaborate barns he first constructed on American 

 models, with adjustable ventilators and steam-pipes by 

 which the temperature could be regulated or the air 

 moistened when necessary. Little by little he found 

 he could simplify ; the injections of steam so necessary 

 in the dry American atmosphere were superfluous in 

 Ireland, until at last he found that the first stage in 

 the preparation of pipe tobacco could be managed 

 in a portable shed made of a deal framework roofed 

 with tarpaulin and covered at the sides with canvas, 

 the whole costing less than 10 to deal with an acre 

 of tobacco. These barns are filled with leaves strung 

 upon laths so that they hang down without touching ; 

 the leaves gradually change colour from green to 

 yellow and then brown, and the process is regulated 

 and assisted at times by open fires of wood or coke on 

 the floor. 



Of course, when the tobacco has been through this 

 process it is by no means ready for the manufacturer ; 

 it has to be re-handled, i.e. graded and put through 

 a process of fermentation which develops the flavour ; 

 but the barn curing is as far as the farmer ought to 

 deal with his crop, for it will then both keep and 

 travel, and can be passed on to a centre where the 

 produce of many growers can be duly worked up. 

 Even in the curing there are nice points to be observed, 

 according to the style of tobacco desired, but the re- 

 handling is so much more critical a process that it is 

 outside the range of an ordinary farmer. 



However, it is now claimed that enough has been 

 learnt about the right kind of seed to grow and the 

 methods of curing in these cheap barns to enable any 



